Lee Roumaya (right) and Howard Williams are owners of Fillmore 13 Brewery LLC, expected to open in downtown Pontiac by the summer.

As you may or may not know, I enjoy the personal histories of semi-obscure 19th century presidents. (No wonder I’m single.)

So I was intrigued Monday night walking around downtown Pontiac when I spotted a sign advertising Fillmore 13 Brewery LLC is coming to town at 7 N. Saginaw St.

Who was this upstart paying homage to Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States who ironically drank very little, if at all?

It turns out it was pure happenstance.

Majority owner and founder Laith "Lee" Roumaya had no intention of invoking the ghost of our nation’s last Whig president when naming the brewery, expected to open by the early summer with a $600,000 investment.

“One of my friends said that it was one of our presidents,” Roumaya said. “It just kind of fell into our lap like that.”

It was, in fact, Roumaya’s love of The Fillmore Detroit theater and the Fillmore East in New York City that prompted the name. As for the number 13? That cemented in my brain the idea that there had to be an aficionado of Millard Fillmore (an ancestor of L. Brooks Patterson?) in our midst.

Well, Roumaya said he has a long-standing tradition of attaching the number to his projects.

Roumaya, the former brewery manager for 16 years for the now-closed Copper Canyon Brewery on Northwestern Highway in Southfield, also said he is involved in opening a new Clinton Township location on Groesbeck Highway south of 16 Mile Road for Warren-based Kuhnhenn Brewing Co.

“With all that experience, my wife and I put our heads together and said we could do our own and have a lot of fun,” he said of how the idea for Fillmore 13 came to fermentation.

With 12-15 ales and lagers on tap brewed on-site by Detroit-based Atwater Brewing Co. brewer Bo Holcomb, Roumaya hopes Fillmore 13 will fill a gaping hole downtown of places to grab a refreshing cold one —and a way for him and his business partner, Howard Williams, to take part in what one national group says is a $1.85 billion Michigan craft brew economy.

“We came and looked at a few buildings, and it was about 8 p.m.,” Roumaya recalled. “I said, ‘Let’s go have a beer somewhere’ and we couldn’t find one place in the entire downtown.”

(That's mostly an accurate portrayal of Pontiac's business district, although there is at least one watering hole downtown, Liberty Bar, on Saginaw north of Huron Street.)

According to the Denver-based Brewers Association, there are 159 craft breweries in Michigan (sixth nationwide) and 2.2 breweries for every 100,000 adults (14th nationwide). Michigan is also the 10th most prolific craft beer producing state in the nation, with 825,000 barrels produced each year.

Fillmore 13, which will employ about 20 people, is also expected to serve pizza, sandwiches and salads and seat about 120, with added seating outside during warmer months in an alley behind the building on its western side.

Roumaya said he expects $1.3 million in revenue in 2016, $1.7 million in 2017 and $2 million in 2018.

The draw of downtown Pontiac included its history as well as its affordability, Roumaya said. According to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, the Oakland Arts Building at 7 N. Saginaw leases for an average of just $9 per square foot per year.

Roumaya said he signed a 15-year lease for 5,500 square feet in the 28,000-square-foot building, which was built in 1920, according to CoStar.

Detroit-based Norr Architects is the architecture firm on the project, while Mario Yono is the general contractor. Roumaya said city approvals and permits will be sought as soon as he closes in about a week on a $450,000 loan from Huntington Bank; he and Williams are financing the other $150,000 of the cost, he said.

The building is owned by Oakland Arts Building LLC, which is registered to Baldoino DiBartolomeo, and managed by Rochester Hills-based Aspect Properties. Baldoino DiBartolomeo is the father of Brian DiBartolomeo, president and broker of Aspect Properties.